Source: Pak Tea House

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

November 11th, 2014 | 17 Comments

“I thoroughly endorse the principle that while this measure should aim at those undesirable persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attack upon the religion of any particular class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion, we must also secure this very important and fundamental principle that those who are engaged in historical works, those who are engaged in bona fide and honest criticism of a religion, shall be protected.“  Jinnah on the passage of 295-A of the Indian Penal Code (also Pakistan Penal Code)

There is a common tendency – common between Islamists and self-hating Pakistanis alike – to tarnish Jinnah’s memory by saying that because Jinnah was lawyer in appeal (for a fee and purely in a professional capacity) for Ilam Din who was accused and later convicted of murdering Raj Pal for publishing a scurrilous publication on the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),  he some how would have endorsed the blasphemy law as it exists today.  I have addressed the canard of Jinnah’s representation of Ilam Din here in detail.  There is no doubt that in retrospect, this was a mistake on part of Mr. Jinnah (and the Pratap newspaper was right in criticizing Jinnah there and then) but it is important to note that unlike all major Muslims leaders from all sides of the spectrum,  Jinnah did not use for political capital at any point.  I challenge anyone who takes up this point to produce a single public statement of Mr. Jinnah defending Ilam Din or presenting it as a great service he did to Muslims. If you can’t then continuously arguing either that Jinnah endorsed the blasphemy law or that he did it for venal motives at a time when he was in a very strict sense an Indian nationalist is useless. 

Read further